Oirat translations of the Sutra of Golden Light

Being one of the pricipal works of Mahayana Buddhism the Sutra of Golden Light was translated in Mongolian and Oirat. Mongolian and Oirat translations are the last ones in the chain of translations from Sanskrit original texts in the course of Buddhist advance to other countries.

In Mongolian three versions of the Sutra of Golden Light are known: long (31 chapters), medium (29 chapters) and short (21 chapters). All three are found in the Kandjur.

The comparison of two texts one in Tibetan and the other in Oirat (using Mongolian text as an arbiter) gives some proof of his method of "computer translation".

In his attempt to follow the Tibetan original Zaya-pandita aimed to unification in lexics and repeating Tibetan grammar patterns in the latter case sometimes going as far as breaking grammar rules of his native language. His translation shows how, on the one hand, many linguistic phenomena were rendered following Tibetan text but, on the other hand, natural Oirat patterns were preserved. Tibetan influence can be find in lexicology, morphology and syntax.

Lexycology.

The main principal here is "one Tibetan word is translated by one Oirat and it is to be the same Oirat word through the whole text". It doesn't mean using special Oirat words but just unification of the Tibetan-Oirat translation. E.g. tib. mya-ngan 'sorrow' , tib. ngal 'exhaustion', tib. sdug-bsngal 'suffering' are translated as oir. γasalang (һаслң), oir. alzaxu (), oir. zobolong (зoвлң) corespondingly having the same meanings. (Mongolian translation has jobolong in all three cases.) If a word is compound in Tibetan it will be translated by two words in Oirat, e.g. tib. dbang-phyug 'powerful' will be oir. erketü erke id.Personal and geographical names are translated word to word without any additional explanatory word while Mongolian text adds it. E.g. the names of boddhisatvas most likely will be accompanied with the щord "bodhisattva" in Mongolian but never in Oirat text.

Morphology.

In the Oirat translation plural suffix -noγoud (-нгуд) is prevailing. It corresponds to Tibetain particle rnams . Suffix -noγoud (-нгуд) is used not only instead of other possible suffixes, e.g. oir. tenggeri-noγoud (тенгрнгуд) 'gods' instead of tenggeri-ner (тенгрнр) id., ( чтo неправильнo, видимo, г-жа Яхoнтoва пoпрoсту не знает калмыцкий (oйратский) язык) oir. ibēl ügei boluγsan-noγoud (ивәлгo бoлснгуд?) 'those who became unprotected' instead of ibēl ügei boluγsad (ивәлгo бoлсд?) id., but where its use is exessive, e.g. oir. dörbön moγoi-noγoud or γazar (һазр) γal (һал) üsün (усн) kigēd (кигд) kei-noγoud 'land, fire, water and air – all'. In the first example there is numeral "four", in the second the nouns are uncountable and the meaning of –noγoud is collective. It is noteworthy that in those cases where Tibetan has plural dag or no plural at all where it could have been Zaya-pandita felt more free and used other "natural" suffixes (e.g. xatun-i nököd 'friends of hatun', xamuq burxad 'all buddhas'). Besides two words köüken 'son' and nökör 'friend' occasionaly appear with two plural suffixes köüked-noγoud and nököd-noγoud when the first is the one which should be used according to Oirat grammar and the second translates Tibetan rnams. But these cases are extremely rare.